Exploited Labor: News & Updates

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers assisted the DOJ with the case, uncovering and reporting the operation to federal agents after two workers escaped from their employers’ control by hiding in the trunk of a car and called the CIW for help. Together with the sentencing of Bladimir Moreno to 10 years in prison, these court rulings mark the end of a lengthy legal process to bring justice to their many victims. This is the latest of more than a dozen forced labor prosecutions in which the CIW Anti-Slavery Program helped federal agencies uncover and bring the criminal operation to justice.

Of course, the continued prevalence of forced labor in the US agricultural industry is not a problem without a solution.  Quite simply, if all major buyers of produce were to join the Fair Food Program, the market for the produce of farms that operate without regard to US law and fundamental human rights would dry up overnight, and forced labor rings like that run by Bladimir Moreno and his associates would have nowhere to operate.  But as long as major corporations like Wendy’s, Kroger’s, and Publix continue to turn their backs on worker-driven social responsibility and refuse to join the Program, unethical farm employers like Moreno will continue to operate away from the scrutiny on the FFP’s best-in-class monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, and farm labor abuse affecting tens of thousands of farmworkers from Florida to California will continue unchecked.

The Azúcar Amarga AKA "Bitter Sugar" campaign is an effort that involves 5 civil society organizations, all seeking to visibilize and denounce the harmful impacts caused by sugarcane monoculture. These efforts led the Ministry of the Environment to create a Working Group with partners like Voices on the Border and spearheaded by representatives of Azúcar Amarga, with the intention of further analyzing the problem and defining a roadmap for implementing measures to prevent pollution and environmental deterioration caused by sugarcane crops

Amazon is the largest sales platform in existence. To hold this status, Amazon has few concerns about labor laws, the environment and fair competition. 

The following article gives 10 reasons not to shop at amazon. 

Amazon...

1. Exploits workers and fights unions.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Amazon has a long history of opposing unionization and most recently was  accused of violating labor laws during the Bessemer, Alabama, union election.

2. Has double the injury rates of industry average.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Injury rates at Amazon facilities are reportedly double that of the industry average.

3. Creates dangerous working conditions for delivery workers.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    49% of delivery workers reported pain or injuries that caused them to miss work.

You can find the full list with detailed descriptions in the article below.

The last week of October was a win for 40 farm workers who were victims of forced labor in Florida. 

The workers were lured in to gag contracts by the international labor contracting company Los Villatores Harvesting LLC (LVH) who promised the desperate Mexican workers the American Dream jobs on farms in the United States. The Mexican guest worker program is essential for U.S. farms and its economy and provides "guest worker visas" (H2 visa) to thousands of workers. This creates opportunities for exploitive labor and a position of power. LVH used this power. It provided workers the H2 visa against a fee of up to $2,000 promising a refund once their victims arrived in the U.S. The refund was never paid; instead the workers were stripped of their passports and forced to work under inhumane conditions while being threatened with arrest and deportation by their employers and held in debt by LVH. 

This horror finally ended when two workers escaped in the trunk of a car and called the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a worker protection coalition, who contacted authorities and together with federal agencies and the CIW Anti-Slavery Program uncovered the criminal enterprise. 

Following this investigation, the human trafficking task force stopped this exploitation in its tracks and brought four members of LVH to court. So far the criminal trial led to three sentences.  

The bookkeeper, manager and supervisor Christina Gamez was sentenced to 37 month in prison.

The second supervisor and manager Efrain Cabrera Rodas, a Mexican citizen, was sentenced to 42 months in prison after he made false statements to federal investigators.

A third supervisor, Guadalupe Mendes Mendoza got off with 8 months in home detention.

LVH owner Bladimir Moreno's trial is still ongoing. He pled guilty and will be sentenced on December 28. 

Although this is good news. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers stated that many more foreign workers are still oppressed and exploited under the H2 program. The CIW calls for labor rights enforcement and retail and food companies to commit to human rights standards monitored by workers. Furthermore, the CIW provides the Fair Food Program, helping thousands of workers to fight for their rights. 

More than a 1000 Honduran construction workers building the new U.S. Embassy complex in Tegucigalpa, Honduras have been on strike for over 4 months now. They are demanding fair payment,  a safe workspace and for the contractor to respect their human rights.  The state and the construction company are reacting with all of their power, firing strike leaders and bringing in riot police, tanks and sharpshooters. Learn how you can support the striking workers in the article below. 

Since the Colombian peace treaty in 2016, many veterans of the civil war have taken part in a reincorporation program; many are being trained to become security guards. A multitude of security guards, including ex-combatants being retrained through the reincorporation process,  seek representation by joining  The Memoria Viva (Living Memory) Union of security guards. Following the rise of the union, many have become targets, leading to six killings of union leaders and intimidation actions. 

The article below contains an interview explaining the struggles the union is going through as well as asking for support for its work. 

Even though Halloween is past, another holiday season is almost knocking on the door and will push chocolate sales once more. Reason enough to shed light on the crooked dealings of the chocolate industry. 

The chocolate industry has been growing rapidly during the last few years and is expected to become a 180 billion USD industry by 2025. But this immense growth comes at a heavy price for the cocoa farmers and their families in the Global South who work for a minimal income to provide cheap chocolate for us. 

Next to the daily struggle to make ends meet, which drives up to 1.5 million children onto the fields in West Africa and Latin America, this industry poisons its workers.

More and more (small) farms have been giving into the pressure and have started using heavily hazardous pesticides as a means to maximize their yields. 

Due to weak regulations, Africa and South/Central America are lucrative markets for these pesticides, many of which are illegal in the United States and the EU. These bans don't exist without a reason. The pesticides can cause acute poisoning and chronic health issues. 

Especially children, pregnant women and their unborn are endangered by the chemicals. Adding to this is a lack of information about potential hazards which can arise and protective equipment for the workers on the fields. 

You can find more on the dangers of chemical pesticides, exploitation of the chocolate farmers and how you can help in the following article. The article also provides a table rating of different manufacturers and gives examples of fair and organic produced chocolate.